Jam pact

Paul Weller doesn't want to wave a political flag - but his new album does, Sean Sennett writes.

A bloke walks into a London pub and asks for a pint of "Paul Weller". The barman nods and hands over a glass. An onlooker asks: "What sort of drink is a 'Paul Weller'?". "Flat, bitter and slightly past its use-by date," comes the reply.

Boom Boom.

The joke did the rounds in the English music press last year. Paul Weller, however, is having the last laugh. Despite reports to the contrary, he is affable, upbeat and, most importantly, making some of the finest music of his long and varied career. On Weller's new album, Illumination, he performs with a renewed vigour. "This is up there with best things I've ever done," said a confident Weller, who spent much of last year touring Europe solo with a handwritten set list and an acoustic guitar. After what seemed like an eternity for fans, Weller began dipping into his Jam and Style Council back catalogue. Performing That's Entertainment, Headstart To Happiness and A Town Called Malice reinvigorated the writer.

"I got off playing [The Jam's] English Rose because the buzz from the audience was so incredible," Weller said. "It overwhelmed me. People were weeping. It made me realise how much these songs mean to people. I think it opened my eyes. I was able to see all my songs as a lineage. They all come from one source. It helped me overcome not playing old songs.

"I can't say [that experience] consciously affected Illumination, but I guess subconsciously it did. When it's stripped down to just one person, an acoustic guitar and the audience, it's just the songs really. It reinforced the power of a good tune, a good lyric and a good melody, which is what I do. That's my role."");document.write("

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A highlight on the new album is Weller's most political tune in recent times, Bullet For Everyone. He fires a salvo at UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, "and his boyfriends, or George Bush and his".

"There's not enough food to go around to include kids in Africa," Weller said. "But there's enough bombs to kill us all 1,000 times over. There's a bullet aimed at every individual on the planet and it's just about oil and power."

Weller, a fervent socialist in the 1980s and Red Wedge (an anti-Thatcher group of musicians) frontman alongside Billy Bragg, is disappointed in Blair and the entire English Labour Party.

"It's just a f***ing joke," he said. "We waited 18 years to get a Labour government in. We endured 18 years of Thatcherism, only to find nothing's really changed. It's the same s*** with a slightly softer mask on. Now [Blair's] doing his war posturing bit, and it's disgraceful. All that stuff with the Earth Summit, it's just hypocrisy. We all expected more from a Labour government.

"I think it's time for an alternative party to come along. I don't mean a hardline extremist thing, just something with some f***ing common sense, with at least some sort of socialist values.

"For a lot of people in this country, me included, it's just total disillusionment. It's leading to a lot of apathy. I think there's a good mood in the people in this country, but there's nothing to latch on to."

For his part, however, Weller is reluctant to adopt any kind of serious political profile again.

"I couldn't tie myself to anyone's banner any more," he said. "I'm shy of being involved in that because of the 1980s and Red Wedge. I don't think it's the same [for me] as it was in the 1980s. The most important thing for me is music, but the most important thing in my life is my family. That's more important than politics. I've just got the opportunity to voice it through a song. I'm not flag-waving."

While recording Illumination, Weller called on a few famous friends. The Stereophonics' Kelly Jones duets on Call Me No 5. Long-time ally Steve Craddock from Ocean Colour Scene is on guitar and Oasis's Noel Gallagher appears on drums and bass. Not everything Gallagher contributed made the final mix.

"We only kept one track, One x One, on the album where Noel plays drums and bass, and Gem [Archer] played acoustic guitar," Weller said. "[Noel] played drums on another track called Going Places, which we had to replace with a real drummer."

Despite playing in Japan almost a dozen times since his Style Council days, Weller has never made it to Australia for a solo tour.

"I haven't got any excuses really, except I can't stand the f***ing flight," he said with a laugh. "We're talking about coming next year."

Illumination is released on September 30 through Independiente/Sony Music.